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The whole truth and nothing but the truth: documentary film and the socio-politics of justice

THE WHOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH:
DOCUMENTARY FILM
AND THE SOCIO-POLITICS OF JUSTICE
by
Kristen Fuhs
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(CRITICAL STUDIES)
August 2011
Copyright 2011 Kristen Fuhs

This dissertation argues that nonfiction films whose primary discursive focus is on judicial proceedings or the administration of the law -– or juridical documentaries -– are an important site for analyzing the political, ideological, and epistemological stakes of documentary representation as well as for revealing truths about the legal process and the ordering of a just society. Juridical documentaries highlight an ontological similarity between documentary and the legal system that makes them a particularly rich space for exploring many of the key issues that concern both the law and documentary: the relationship between evidence and truth construction, the tension between performance and authenticity, the ethics of witnessing and confession, and the politics of representing social subjects. Combining critical theory, archival research, textual analysis, and interviews with filmmakers, this dissertation explores juridical documentaries as sites of narrative contestation, epistemological inquiry, ideological challenge, performative engagement, and social activism. By drawing attention to the sometimes-slippery relationship between evidence, knowledge and truth, it looks at how juridical documentaries mediate the construction and circulation of non-fiction legal narratives and condition their subsequent interpretation in the social world. By focusing on documentaries that challenge, resist, confront, and intervene in the legal system’s power to control these narratives, the following pages explore how juridical documentaries force us to reflect on the nature of partisan political power, the law’s moral authority, and our own responsibility for the maintenance of a just and democratic society.

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THE WHOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH:
DOCUMENTARY FILM
AND THE SOCIO-POLITICS OF JUSTICE
by
Kristen Fuhs
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(CRITICAL STUDIES)
August 2011
Copyright 2011 Kristen Fuhs